Volume set configuration using a single operational view

• US 6,078,990 A
• Filed: 02/06/1998
• Issued: 06/20/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Teradata US, Inc. (Teradata Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Inventors: Frazier, John D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cabeca, John W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): TZENG, FRED
• Application Number:
  US09/020,163
• Time in Patent Office: 865 Days
• Field of Search: 711/114, 711/111, 711/5, 711/156, 711/161, 711/170, 714/7, 714/6, 714/5, 710/15
• US Class Current: 711/114
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0632 by initialisation or re-initialisation of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for configuring volume sets in a distributed processing system is described. The processing system comprises a plurality of compute nodes communicatively coupled to a plurality of input/output (I/O) nodes, each having storage space. The method comprises the steps of querying the I/O nodes to determine available storage space at each I/O node in the system, displaying information representing the available storage space to the user, and accepting a volume set name and selected volume set size smaller than the largest storage space block size. Next, the system scans the information to determine if there is a storage block substantially the same size as the selected volume set size. If there is such a storage block, the volume set is then created. If no such storage block exists, performance data for the available storage blocks is obtained, and used to recommend a selected storage block for the volume set. In one embodiment, storage blocks are selected so that small storage spaces which are of limited practical use are minimized. The user can then select one of the recommended storage blocks or another, if desired.

Claims

1. A method of configuring a volume set in a distributed multi-processing system comprising a plurality of compute nodes communicatively coupled to a plurality of input/output (I/O) nodes, each having storage space, the method comprising the steps of:

querying the I/O nodes to determine available storage space blocks at each I/O node;

displaying information representing the available storage space blocks at each I/O node to a user, the information comprising a storage space block identification and a storage space block size;

accepting a volume set name and a selected volume set size not greater than the largest storage space block size;

scanning the information to determine if the storage space block size of an available storage space block substantially equals the selected volume set size;

selecting an available storage space block for the volume set such that the available storage space block has a size equal to the selected volume set size; and

obtaining performance data for the available storage space blocks having a size larger than the selected volume set size and selecting an available storage space block for the volume set based on the performance data, when there is no available storage space block having a size equal to the selected volume set size.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of querying the I/O nodes to determine available storage space blocks at each I/O node comprises the steps of:

sending a message to the I/O nodes comprising the volume set name, the volume set size, and a signature, the signature indicating access to determine available storage space blocks;

authenticating the signature in the I/O nodes; and

receiving information from the I/O nodes describing available storage space block at each I/O node when indicated by the signature.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the message sent to the I/O nodes further comprises a RAID level designation.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of sorting the available storage space block information according to a user-specified sort criteria.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining performance data for the available storage space block comprises the step of reading the performance data from the I/O nodes, the performance data comprising characteristic usage data.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of creating a volume set in the I/O node in accordance with the volume set name and volume set size.

7. An apparatus for configuring a volume set in a distributed multi-processing system comprising a plurality of compute nodes communicatively coupled to a plurality of input/output (I/O) nodes, each having storage space, comprising:

means for querying the I/O nodes to determine available storage space blocks at each I/O node;

means for displaying information representing the available storage space blocks at each I/O node to a user, the information comprising a storage space block identification and a storage space block size;

means for accepting a volume set name and a selected volume set size not greater than the largest storage space block size;

means for scanning the information to determine if the storage space block size of an available storage space block is the selected volume set size;

means for selecting an available storage space block for the volume set such that the available storage space block has a size equal to the selected volume set size;

means for obtaining performance data for the available storage space blocks having a size larger than the selected volume set size when there is no available storage space block having a size equal to the selected volume set size; and

means for selecting an available storage space block for the volume set based on the performance data.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the means for querying the I/O nodes to determine available storage space blocks at each I/O node comprises:

means for sending a message to the I/O nodes comprising the volume set name, the volume set size, and a signature, the signature indicating access to determine available storage space blocks;

means for authenticating the signature in the I/O nodes; and

means for receiving information from the I/O nodes describing available storage space block at each I/O node when indicated by the signature.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the message sent to the I/O nodes further comprises a RAID level designation.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising means for sorting available storage space block information according to a user-specified sort criteria.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the means for obtaining performance data for the available storage space blocks having a size larger than the selected volume set size comprises means for reading the performance data from the I/O nodes, the performance data comprising characteristic usage data.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising means for creating a volume set in the I/O node in accordance with the volume set name and volume set size.

13. A method of configuring a volume set in a distributed multi-processing system comprising a plurality of compute nodes communicatively coupled to a plurality of input/output nodes, each having storage space implemented in a plurality of physical disk drives, the method comprising the steps of:

presenting a graphical representation of the storage space associated with at least one of the I/O nodes to a user, the graphical representation including a depiction of the I/O node, a depiction of the physical disk drives associated with the I/O node, and a depiction of the interconnection between the physical disk drives and the I/O nodes;

presenting a depiction indicative of the usage of physical disk drives associated with the I/O node to the user;

presenting a data box displaying volume sets configured in the physical disks to the user when the physical disks are selected by the user; and

presenting a build indicator to the user, the build indicator for selecting physical disks to configure the volume set.

14. A user interface for configuring a volume set in a distributed multi-processor system comprising a plurality of compute nodes communicatively coupled to a plurality of input/output nodes via an interconnect fabric, each input/output node having storage space implemented in a plurality of physical disk drives, the user interface comprising:

a graphical representation of the storage space associated with at least one of the I/O nodes, including a depiction of the I/O node, a depiction of the physical disk drives associated with the I/O node, and a depiction of the interconnection between the physical disk drives and the I/O nodes;

a depiction indicative of the usage of physical disk drives associated with the I/O node;

a data box displaying volume sets configured in the physical disks; and

a build indicator, for selecting physical disks to configure the virtual disk.

15. The user interface of claim 14, wherein the plurality of physical disk drives comprise at least one redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) having a plurality of member disks, and the user interface comprises a build indicator for each RAID member disk.

16. A program storage device, readable by a computer, tangibly embodying one or more programs of instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps of configuring a volume set in a distributed multi-processing system comprising a plurality of compute nodes communicatively coupled to a plurality of input/output nodes, each having a storage space, the method comprising the steps of:

querying the I/O nodes to determine available storage space blocks at each I/O node;

displaying information representing the available storage space blocks at each I/O node to a user, the information comprising a storage space block identification and a storage space block size;

accepting a volume set name and a selected volume set size not greater than the largest storage space block size;

scanning the information to determine if the storage space block size of an available storage space block substantially equals the selected volume set size;

selecting an available storage space block for the volume set such that the available storage space block has a size equal to the selected volume set size;

obtaining performance data for the available storage space blocks having a size larger than the selected volume set size when there is no available storage space block having a size equal to the selected volume set size; and

selecting an available storage space block for the volume set based on the performance data.

17. The program storage device of claim 16, wherein the method step of querying the I/O nodes to determine available storage space blocks at each I/O node comprises the steps of:

sending a message to the I/O nodes comprising the volume set name, the volume set size, and a signature, the signature indicating access to determine available storage space blocks;

authenticating the signature in the I/O nodes; and

receiving information from the I/O nodes describing available storage space block at each I/O node when indicated by the signature.

18. The program storage device of claim 17, wherein the message sent to the I/O nodes comprises a RAID level designation.

19. The program storage device of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises the step of sorting the available storage space block information according to a user-specified sort criteria.

20. The program storage device of claim 16, wherein the step of obtaining performance data for the available storage block comprises the step of reading the performance data from the I/O nodes, the performance data comprising characteristic usage data.

21. The program storage device of claim 16, wherein method steps further comprise the step of creating a volume set in the I/O node in accordance with the volume set name and volume set size.